The one thing to remember about matchmaking is that only Chrom is mandated by the plot to getting hitched at a certain point (at the end of the chapter where the Dancer joins), and he'll take whomever's closest to him from his S-rank potentials whether you've reached S-rank or not. Alternatively, if you keep him at arms length from all of his potential mates you can avoid having him take anyone from your army (although this is not advisable since his child will be left with Chrom's inheritance only and another child will miss out on Aether/Royal Weapon).

Yep, Chrom had only really talked to the one female he did end up marrying in my game. Well, I think he also had a convo with my tactician but she was further along with (though not yet married to) someone else. And kids are showing up, yes...

It's a rough game to play, but I think a lot of the hate stems from it being "different" rather than bad. There are some genuinely cool and progressive features. The tech balancing system is neat, the combat is generally pretty solid, generation thing gives you some replayability, and the music is great. Unfortunately it often gets a bad rap because if you sit on the command input screen, the combat music won't change and the loop is pretty short-- it's dynamic and shifts depending on how well each round is going.

Srsly though, it has one of the coolest final boss themes in the series.

It's a rough game to play, but I think a lot of the hate stems from it being "different" rather than bad. There are some genuinely cool and progressive features. The tech balancing system is neat, the combat is generally pretty solid, generation thing gives you some replayability, and the music is great. Unfortunately it often gets a bad rap because if you sit on the command input screen, the combat music won't change and the loop is pretty short-- it's dynamic and shifts depending on how well each round is going.

Srsly though, it has one of the coolest final boss themes in the series.

I'd be cursing you Cannooks but I'm sitting on a preorder for the 3DS box set and hopefully an artbook (I've been screwed over by my local GS so many times now, the only reason for the preorder was for the 3DS since I couldn't get one over the holiday shopping season), and I've already spoilered the hell out of myself last year by watching an internet playthrough and spergin' over optimal breeding strategies so I'm in no particular rush.